Filter Settings for Inventor Parts List

Have you ever wanted to filter a parts list in an Inventor drawing? This post will help guide you through the process.

Customizing your parts list is an essential part of drawing creation. The Filter Settings tool will allow you to modify your parts list to meet certain criteria.

Once you place a parts list into an Inventor drawing, you can double-click on the parts list to gain access to modifying tools. One of those tools is Filter Settings. See the image below.

In the Filter Settings dialog box, you can choose from a range of filters. Multiple filters can even be applied at the same time. To apply the filter type, click the green check mark beside the filter types. Here’s information of each filter type.

Assembly View Representation – Allows you to only show items that are visible in the selected Assembly View.

Ballooned Items Only – Only items that have an Inventor balloon placed on them will show up in this list. Nice way to clean up the parts list of a ballooned assembly. Only the items you have chosen to balloon will show up.

Item Number Range – Probably the most popular filter. You manually choose which items show up (or not). An example of an input would be: 1,3,4,7-10, 12. Only these items would show in the parts list. Items 2,5,6, & 11 would be hidden.

Purchased Items – A very popular filter as well. You have an option to choose to show “Purchased Item Only” or to not show “Purchased Items“. Both options are viable. This filter is reading the BOM Structure property for an item. Many users place the same parts list in twice. For one they filter to only show purchased items. The other would only show non-purchased (or self-manufactured) items. Of note, all content center components have their BOM Structure property set to “Purchased”.

Standard Content – This filter allows to you show (or to not show) Content Center items (bolts, nuts, hardware, etc.). Often this filter is used in conjunction with the “Purchased Items” filter. A user may want to see all the items that are purchased and are standard hardware. For this, you would have these filters applied: “Purchased Items Only” & “Standard Content Only”. But a user may also want to show all purchased items that are not basic hardware. For this, you would apply: “Purchased Items Only” & “No Standard Content“. Below is an example of this type of filter.

Once a filters have been chosen, click OK. The parts list will update to reflect your filters. Feel free double-click on the parts list once more and return to the Filter Setting tool. From here you can turn off individual filter types. Or you can delete the filter altogether. Click OK when done modifying. Your parts list will update to reflect the changes.

I hope this post has proven helpful. Using these filter settings is an essential tool in customizing your parts list. If you have any question about Bills of Material, Parts List, or any other Inventor topic… please don’t hesitate to call your local ECAD reseller.